Should Race Be A Factor In Filling The Hampton Judgeships?

February 15, 2008

There are three open judgeships in the city to be filled. The Coalition for Justice for Civil Rights, a Hampton-based civil rights group, publicly declared that Hampton needs these openings filled with African-American judges since the city's population is split evenly between blacks and whites.

SHOULD RACE BE A FACTOR IN FILLING THE HAMPTON JUDGESHIPS?

"Race should have nothing to do with it. I don ASCIICHAR_e1 t care what color or gender the person is; the first person who is most qualified should be selected."

TOM BROCK

"Yes. There is a lot of racism. White judges and black judges will have different points of view and blacks should be represented."

CHRIS JOHNSON

"There must be a qualified black judge out there to represent us. If there wasn ASCIICHAR_e1 t anybody qualified, that would be a different story, but blacks need representation."

MARIE MIDDLETON

"If they are qualified, they should have the opportunity to fill the position. But just because a judge is black doesn ASCIICHAR_e1 t mean they ASCIICHAR_e1 re going to understand where someone accused of a crime is coming from."

SHANNON FORD

"I want a qualified judge judge to be selected. Color shouldn ASCIICHAR_e1 t matter. I feel that way about all jobs."

PATRICK PIPER

ONLINE POLL RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK ASCIICHAR_e1 S QUESTION:

Where do you think more of Hampton ASCIICHAR_e1 s tax dollars should be funneled?

Education 42%

Law enforcement 33%

Public services 25%

No opinion 0%

More staffing for government agencies to serve the public 0%

RESPONSES SUBMITED ONLINE FOR LAST WEEK'S QUESTION:

"Boss Ross ... has already started with the election year tax rate cuts. Oddly enough he is the same guy that has made us all suffer through giant tax increases for years now. He is also the same guy that spent every penny." "Hopefully they will use this budget to clean up the place. You can have a nice new ASCIICHAR_f1 mall ASCIICHAR_e1 but if you don ASCIICHAR_e1 t do anything about the riff-raff then who wants to park a new Mercedes in the parking garage?"

Online extra

To answer this week ASCIICHAR_e1 s question, go to dailypress.com/judges.